Perennial plants such as tea, are often raised in hedges, row on row. These tea hedges are approximately four feet high by six feet wide, with one foot, or enough space between rows for harvester wheels, cultivators and other farm implements to have easy access. They are harvested by passing a high wheeled tractor, which has a cutter bar to snip the tea flush from the top of the hedge, over the rows. A vacuum collector then sucks up the harvested leaves, stems, and other material into a container trailer following the cutting bar equipment.
In this system of growing hedge-type, harvestable perennials, the upper planar surface of the plants is substantially horizontal. This means that the light from the sun strikes the top of the hedge row at an angle, and also strikes the southerly side of the edge of the top of the hedge, and the ground between the rows.
Primary growth of the harvestable portion of the plant occurs on its upper planar surface. When this upper planar surface is flat, as in the known growth systems, the growth area for the crop is limited.
Also, the orientation or arrangement of the rows of plants in known systems do not take into consideration such factors as prevailing wind direction and row spacing to enhance crop growth.
It is an object of the invention to utilize such factors as the angle and orientation of the upper planar surface of harvestable plants, row spacing and prevailing wind direction, to provide a system for growing and harvesting plants which increases the growth area of the plant and enhances the productivity of the crop.